


New Beginnings

by esteoflorien



Series: A Drabble a Day [2]
Category: Wicked - All Media Types
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-11
Updated: 2013-11-11
Packaged: 2018-01-01 04:00:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1040092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esteoflorien/pseuds/esteoflorien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elphaba and Glinda have a much-needed conversation, and figure out how to move forward. Post-musical.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PerilouslyClose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerilouslyClose/gifts).



_I_ am _changed_ , Glinda thought, for how could she be anything but? She could barely recognize the woman she was now; she was so very far from the naive, superficial little twit who had entered Shiz. It was appropriate that she had changed her name, really; _Galinda_ belonged to a little girl from Giliken, not to the most powerful woman in Oz.

Well, _second_ most powerful woman in Oz. She was not blind to Elphaba’s talents; even Madame Morrible, whom Glinda had come to realize was not nearly the sorceress she claimed to be, had recognized Elphie’s skill. But Elphaba, it seemed, had turned herself into a strange caricature of who she was before, and of all the things that Glinda the Good could barely recognize in this changed Oz, her shy, bookish roommate’s transformation into the Wicked Witch was the singular most unbelievable thing. After all, she had always known that she herself was destined for some kind of greatness.

Granted, laying her head on a silken pillow in the great palace of Emerald City as Glinda the Good Witch was hardly what she’d had in mind, but, she decided, settling herself in the luxurious sheets, it wasn’t such a hardship.

“Glinda!” she heard, whispered, it seemed, directly into her ear. She wondered if someone was calling her in her dream, even as she tried to rouse herself from it.

“Glinda,” the voice said, insistently. “You must wake up, and above all else, you must not shriek.”

She turned towards the voice, her eyes still closed. It was familiar, but she couldn’t place it.

“Oh for the love of Ozma, Glinda, wake up!”

Glinda blinked herself awake, and caught sight of the woman to whom the voice belonged. She couldn’t see her green skin in the darkness, but she’d spent enough nights sharing a room with her to recognize Elphaba Thropp when she saw her. She opened her mouth to scream, out of delight, surprise, and a healthy dose of pent-up frustration.

Elphaba clapped her hand over her mouth and glared at her. “Didn’t I say you should _not_ shriek? Honestly. You know perfectly well I’m not going to harm anyone, least of all you.” She sounded entirely put out.

Glinda put her hand on Elphaba’s wrist and mumbled, “I won’t shriek.” Elphaba took her hand away, and Glinda sat up against the headboard. “What on earth are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be striking fear into the hearts of Munchkins or something?”

“Don’t tell me you believe that nonsense.”

“I don’t know what to believe, Elphaba.”

“So we’re back to Elphaba?”

“My Elphie wouldn’t have gone off and abandoned me like that,” Glinda said, and winced at the petulance she could hear in her voice. _So not too terribly far from Galinda, in some respects_ , she conceded. “We never had a minute to just talk.”

“Glinda, _honestly_!” Elphaba said, more exasperated than annoyed. “What exactly did you expect me to do? Wait around for Morrible or the guards or the hordes of townspeople with buckets of water to have at me so that we could _discuss_?”

Glinda looked away. “It was important to me.”

Elphaba shook her head, but Glinda knew her well enough to recognize a concession. “I’m sorry. I should have spoken to you first, you’re absolutely right about that. But didn’t you think I’d come back to you?”

“I don’t know what to think,” Glinda said, again. “What are you _doing_ , Elphaba?”

Elphaba gestured to the bed. “May I?” she asked, before settling herself down on the side. “This got all out of hand, Glinda.”

“You can say that again,” said Glinda. After all, she was the one stuck who had been stuck with Morrible and that idiot of a wizard. “And now they all think you’re dead, when you’re clearly not.”

“You knew perfectly well I wasn’t dead.”

Glinda shrugged. Well, of course she had known _that._ The question was simply when Elphie was going to turn up again. But this conversation was nothing like the ones she’d carried on in her head, which mostly consisted of her quite thoroughly reading Elphie the riot act.

“You still left me, even if I knew you weren’t dead,” she finally said.

Elphaba began fiddling with her comforter. “I know. I’m sorry. But I left because there was no other way. There was no chance of them believing that I was actually trying to help them, no matter what you said. Look at what happened this afternoon.”

“I know,” Glinda murmured. For all that she was the people’s golden princess, she knew their affections could be fickle and transient, and she was far too new to command any kind of lasting loyalty. She hoped it would change.

“But if I’m, well, not here, not officially,” Elphaba went on, “we can try, like we said we would.”

“Try? And never go out? Never let anyone see you? Never tell anyone that we’re in love?”

Elphaba looked at her oddly. “Glinda, can you name a single instance in which I willingly socialized at an event without your persuasion?”

“But what will you _do_ , shut up in here?”

“What I did at Shiz. _Work_. We’re better together. You need me, too, you know.”

Glinda laughed, finally. “That I do, Elphie.”

Elphaba turned toward her with a hopeful expression. “Are you going to let me stay?”

“Of course!” Glinda said. “Of course I am. I’m not letting you abandon me again.” She narrowed her eyes. “But you are _staying_ this time, Elphaba Thropp. You are not kissing me and then going off on your own way and leaving me for Ozma-knows-how-long – “

Elphaba kissed her gently, interrupting her, and it was everything she’d been waiting for. She pulled aside the covers and patted the mattress. “Come on, Elphie,” she said. “It’s late.”

They pressed close together, as they had at Shiz on those few lovely nights they’d gone to the Emerald City and all had been turned on its head. “I was worried about you, you know,” Glinda murmured, her voice muffled against Elphie’s shoulder.

“I’m here now,” Elphaba whispered into her hair.

In the morning, they would sort out the practicalities, Glinda decided, for together she was certain that they would achieve that greatness of which she had always dreamed. But for now, she groped blindly for Elphie’s hand, and when Elphie gripped hers back, she felt the promise of a new beginning, and fell into dreams of all that lay ahead.

 


End file.
